This proposal is a competing continuation application for an existing Bridges to the Baccalaureate Degree Program (RFA: GM-94-001) at New Mexico State University (NMSU), Las Cruces. The program proposes to continue serving American Indian students at six community college sites which enroll relatively large numbers of students from the Dine (Navajo) Tribe, the Mescalero Apache Tribe, and thirteen New Mexico Pueblos including Tigua, Tortugas, Laguna, Acoma, Zuni, Taos, San Juan, Santa Clara, Tesuque, Picuris, San Ilfonso, Nambe, and Pojoaque. The six community colleges include: Navajo Community College (NCC) at Shiprock, NM; NCC at Tsaile, Az; NMSU branch community colleges at Grants, Alamogordo, and Dona Ana, NM; and Northern New Mexico Community College at Espanola, NM. The majority of American Indian students from these institutions who transfer to four-year bachelor degree (B.S.) programs at NMSU enter engineering, business, or agricultural disciplines. A very small fraction are exposed to or are aware of career opportunities in biomedical research sciences prior to transferring. Consequently. they choose alternative career options. This program seeks to continue development of programs that will introduce American Indian students at these six community colleges to B.S. degree career opportunities in the biomedical sciences at a time when students choose their career track. This will be achieved by the following activities: (i) fifteen faculty from NMSU will organize and offer a biweekly seminar/lecture series at each community college campus which will introduce American Indian students to biomedically-related research programs in progress at NMSU; (ii) this seminar series will introduce students to active research-oriented faculty who will be prospective mentors for students who will eventually transfer to a B.S. program at NMSU and will participate in summer research projects at NMSU; (iii) four students from each community college (24 total students) will visit the NMSU main campus once during each academic year for a three-day orientation program that will introduce them to potential faculty research mentors, the campus environs, research facilities, campus American Indian support groups, actual classroom and laboratory experiences, and academic advisement mechanisms; (iv) fifteen total students from these community college campuses will conduct full-time research with a faculty mentor during 8-12 summer weeks at the main campus of NMSU in Las Cruces after their freshman and/or sophomore years at their respective community college campuses; (v) when these students transfer to B.S. programs that are allied to the biomedical field at NMSU (Biochemistry, Biology, Microbiology, Physics, Chemistry, Animal Science, Plant Sciences), they will be immediately assimilated into active, ongoing, successful research- oriented programs that can guide them to completion of the B.S. degree and provide them advisement for progression into post baccalaureate graduate or professional schools; and lastly. (vi) opportunities will be provided for one science instructor from three of the community college campuses to conduct research on biomedically-relevant projects at NMSU during the summer months.